Story 0823
November 22, 1941 Klin, near Moscow
The frozen ground had allowed the 3rd and 4th Panzer Groups to resume their advance. Soviet counter-attacks at the start of the month had been brushed aside but the lack of supplies had not allowed for a rapid counter-attack to take advantage of the temporary defeats. The Red Army was fighting harder and far more importantly, smarter in the past week. The few T-34 and British infantry tanks at the front had to be dealt with by swarms, but the Reds would retreat when the tactical situation warranted it and they would unleash a division’s worth of artillery when the German main body exposed themselves.
Now the fighting in Klin was the grinding, bloody and slow fight of infantry and engineers against each other. Victories were measured by apartment blocks. The German infantry regiments were forcing the Russian infantrymen further back every other rush. One of the greatest delays of the advance was that each time a room had been cleared, German infantry took the time to grab the warm winter gear that their opponents were fighting in. Some units had received coats and gloves but not all. Frostbite was almost as dangerous as landmines.
One hundred miles south of Klin, the 2nd Panzer Group had masked Tula and the first elements were over the Upa River. As night fell, a fresh from training tank brigade counter-attacked and it was supported by a fresh infantry division that had detrained from the Trans-Baikal three days earlier. Valentines and Churchills blunted the bridgehead even as the German anti-tank defenses extracted their own toll on the raw defenders.
The next morning, the attacks on both sides continued even as the German lorries that were supposed to carry fuel to the spearheads dwindled in numbers and were delayed by weather, partisans and air raids. Fuel and shells arrived at the front but the replenishments were insufficient to replace all of the prior day’s consumption.
The frozen ground had allowed the 3rd and 4th Panzer Groups to resume their advance. Soviet counter-attacks at the start of the month had been brushed aside but the lack of supplies had not allowed for a rapid counter-attack to take advantage of the temporary defeats. The Red Army was fighting harder and far more importantly, smarter in the past week. The few T-34 and British infantry tanks at the front had to be dealt with by swarms, but the Reds would retreat when the tactical situation warranted it and they would unleash a division’s worth of artillery when the German main body exposed themselves.
Now the fighting in Klin was the grinding, bloody and slow fight of infantry and engineers against each other. Victories were measured by apartment blocks. The German infantry regiments were forcing the Russian infantrymen further back every other rush. One of the greatest delays of the advance was that each time a room had been cleared, German infantry took the time to grab the warm winter gear that their opponents were fighting in. Some units had received coats and gloves but not all. Frostbite was almost as dangerous as landmines.
One hundred miles south of Klin, the 2nd Panzer Group had masked Tula and the first elements were over the Upa River. As night fell, a fresh from training tank brigade counter-attacked and it was supported by a fresh infantry division that had detrained from the Trans-Baikal three days earlier. Valentines and Churchills blunted the bridgehead even as the German anti-tank defenses extracted their own toll on the raw defenders.
The next morning, the attacks on both sides continued even as the German lorries that were supposed to carry fuel to the spearheads dwindled in numbers and were delayed by weather, partisans and air raids. Fuel and shells arrived at the front but the replenishments were insufficient to replace all of the prior day’s consumption.
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